


This Twisted Love Affair Could Really Take Us Somewhere

by tony_snark



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Sequence, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-24 19:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tony_snark/pseuds/tony_snark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles  remarked that it was a bit on the nose when Erik declared their colors  the first time he'd brought out his chess set.  Erik silently continued  setting his pieces, a small and marvelous army clad in black.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Twisted Love Affair Could Really Take Us Somewhere

**I.**

_He wore black, and I wore white. He would always win the fight. Bang bang, he shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the ground. Bang bang, that awful sound. Bang bang, my baby shot me down._1

Charles remarked that it was a bit on the nose when Erik declared their colors the first time he’d brought out his chess set. Erik silently continued setting his pieces, a small and marvelous army clad in black. Erik always won their first matches before Charles was tipsy from his expensive brandy and snatched future moves from Erik’s mind without realizing it. Later, as he lay in Erik’s arms, the blood spilling from him surely stunningly red against the beach’s white sands, he wished he could carelessly slip into Erik’s mind, underneath that awful helmet, and see his next move.

**II.**

_I want to break free from your lies; you’re so self-satisfied. I don’t need you. I’ve got to break free…god knows I want to break free. I’ve fallen in love._2

Erik fantasized about leaving, perhaps slipping out under cover of night. Charles surely knew his plans but said nothing, and Erik bristled at Charles’s surety that he wouldn’t walk. He didn’t care what Charles said; he didn’t need any of them to take down Shaw. But, when he tried to leave his feet wouldn’t obey, and the thought became less and less appealing until, one day, as he and Charles stood beyond the satellite with matching grins and tears streaking their faces, Erik realized he was in love, and he promised himself he would never fantasize about leaving Charles again.

**III.**

_One day…I let him slip away. He’s looking for that home, and I hope he finds it. But, I’d trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday._3

Charles hadn’t ventured into this room in months, and he eyed Erik’s faded briefcase atop a dresser. He remembered tossing it aside in a panic during one of many cross country drives. A tire had blown, and Charles didn’t know how to change a flat. He recalled the sudden warmth of Erik’s hand as it stilled his before pulling out the jack. Soon they were cruising and he smiled when he noticed Erik humming along with the radio as rain pelted the windshield. Charles sighed and rolled up to the dresser. Every day there were more students and less room.

 **IV.**

_Don’t let it go away; this feeling has got to stay._4

Charles couldn’t name this feeling. Erik would smile at him over a game of chess or touch his arm, and Charles’s stomach rolled. Everything about Erik was exciting and challenging and new, and Charles’s restraint eroded until the night he kissed Erik in their motel room, his mind slipping carelessly into Erik’s. He startled at the intensity of it as Erik shoved him onto his bed. Charles vaguely heard Erik’s thoughts flitter through his mind, _dangerous…broken…can’t believe it_. Charles couldn’t believe it even as Erik straddled him. Charles couldn’t name this feeling, but he never wanted it to go away.

 **V.**

_I would’ve fallen from the sky ‘till you; parachutes have opened now._5

Charles was always saving his life. Charles pulled him from the waters in Miami and saved him from drowning. Charles told him that he wasn’t the only one, that they were alike, and saved him from his crushing loneliness. Charles told him that could use some friends and saved him from challenging Shaw and the Hellfire club alone. Charles told him that there was more to him than pain and anger, pleaded with him to be the better man to save him from himself. Magneto thought, perhaps, he was beyond saving now, but he knew Charles would never stop trying.

**VI.**

_Being good isn’t always easy no matter how hard I try. But, when he started sweet talking to me, he’d come and tell me everything is alright. He’d kiss and tell me everything is alright._6

Sometimes Charles disgusted Erik. His riches, his mediocre use of his powers, his readiness to reach out to humans, his unshakable confidence. What disgusted him most was that he was falling for Charles. When Charles would smile and look into his eyes over a chess game, Erik thought he might do anything to make Charles’s impossible, idealistic world a reality. Erik didn’t understand how Charles, who knew every torrid, hateful part of him, wasn’t himself disgusted. But, when Charles told him there was more to him than vengeance and a desire to burn the world to ash, he believed him.

 **VII.**

_I dreamed just last night; you were there by my side, your sweet, loving tenderness easing my pride. But, then I awoke, dear, and found you not there. It was just my old memory of how much I care._7

Erik (Magneto) had recurring dreams. Waking early and Charles chucking a pillow at him. Charles insisting he couldn’t shoot a man as Erik wondered if Charles could see the faces of the people he’d killed. Sometimes they sat in Charles’s study and tried each other at chess. Sometimes, the best times, they’d lie on Charles’s bed and try each other. When they were panting and sweaty and lying on their backs he’d reach out to touch Charles one more time, find the space next to him empty and awaken with a jolt. Erik was Magneto now, and dreaming was useless.

**VIII.**

_Young love’s such a sweet thing; I wanna do everything; one beautiful feeling._8

Charles knew everything and nothing about Erik. When he’d pulled Erik from the waters in Miami he’d stolen a lifetime of painful memories, muted as if Erik were willing them to fade away. When he told Erik he knew everything about him, it was a half-truth. He only knew Erik’s dimmed recollections, but as he gleaned bits and pieces while they recruited then trained, he realized that he could love Erik. Charles felt Erik’s shock when he kissed him, straddled him, and Charles intoned that he wasn’t as innocent and sweet as Erik thought as he stripped off his clothes.

**Author's Note:**

> 1 Nancy Sinatra, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"
> 
> 2Queen, "I Want to Break Free"
> 
> 3Janis Joplin, "Me and Bobby McGee
> 
> 4No Doubt, "New"
> 
> 5Pearl Jam, "Parachutes"
> 
> 6Dusty Springfield, "Son of a Preacher Man"
> 
> 7Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, "Through The Morning, Through The Night"
> 
> 8Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, "Crimson & Clover"
> 
> Title taken from Joan Jett's "The French Song."


End file.
